McDONALD, Terrence J.
The history of urban fiscal politics in America, 1830-1930 : what was supposed to be versus what was and the difference it makes - New York : Marcel Dekker, 1988
Across the social sciences in America analysts routinely employ the so-called functional model of the urban political machine in their explanations of the development of American urban government. They do so, however, with little knowledge of the intellectual history of this model or the actual history of American urban politics. This essay reviews the development and spread of the functional model through the social sciences and argues that it is an historical construct developed in the nineteen fifties by analysts who were admittedly more interested in creating a usable past for liberal political economy than in understanding urban political history. Having done this the essay then reviews recent work by urban historians and sociologists which have put the propositions of this model to the test in its ideological, political, and fiscal contexts for the years from 1830-1930. This work reveals that the image of the all-powerful political machines is demonstrably false. On this basis the essay argues that the persistence of this image has led to a unrealistic historical standard against which contemporary urban public administration has been unfairly judged
The history of urban fiscal politics in America, 1830-1930 : what was supposed to be versus what was and the difference it makes - New York : Marcel Dekker, 1988
Across the social sciences in America analysts routinely employ the so-called functional model of the urban political machine in their explanations of the development of American urban government. They do so, however, with little knowledge of the intellectual history of this model or the actual history of American urban politics. This essay reviews the development and spread of the functional model through the social sciences and argues that it is an historical construct developed in the nineteen fifties by analysts who were admittedly more interested in creating a usable past for liberal political economy than in understanding urban political history. Having done this the essay then reviews recent work by urban historians and sociologists which have put the propositions of this model to the test in its ideological, political, and fiscal contexts for the years from 1830-1930. This work reveals that the image of the all-powerful political machines is demonstrably false. On this basis the essay argues that the persistence of this image has led to a unrealistic historical standard against which contemporary urban public administration has been unfairly judged
